If this is your first visit, be sure to
check out the FAQ by clicking the
link above. You may have to register
before you can post: click the register link above to proceed. To start viewing messages,
select the forum that you want to visit from the selection below.

Trying Out The New Ubuntu 10.10 Installer

Phoronix: Trying Out The New Ubuntu 10.10 Installer

Following last week's Ubuntu 10.10 Alpha 3 release but landing before the Ubuntu 10.10 "Maverick Meerkat" feature freeze this week were a number of last-minute features like X Server 1.9 integration and other updated packages along with the committing of the revamped Ubuntu desktop installer to Maverick. Via this revamped Ubuntu installer it's possible to install proprietary bits directly like support for MP3 audio files and proprietary graphics drivers...

Installing to a btrfs root partition should be supported for a few weeks now. In fact, I did just that in late July.

I believe he is looking for support in Grub2. I think such a patch exists but because it is ported from the kernels GPLv2 implementation, it may face difficulty getting merged into Grub2 since their GPLv3+ license (of superior freedom remember?) is incompatible with the GPLv2.

If that would be the case Michael wouldn't have wrote: "[...] which was a feature introduced to Ubuntu Maverick's alternate/server CD installer."

I found btrfs by coincidence in Ubiquity at the end of last month and since then I am running Ubuntu on a compressed btrfs on my sub-notebook. Hopefully they will add the compress option officially soon.

Well, I thought you can't install directly to btrfs because of a dependency on zlib needed for compression. Regardless, the installer needs to have the option to mount / or any other directory with options, so for example, btrfs can be mounted with compress and ssd from the get go, making the total installation smaller, which is one big point for using btrfs for me anyway.

The way I did it using a previous alpha was to slow the installer using while 1 in bash, waiting until it mounts /target and /target/boot, then sending SIGSTOP to the installer. Then I unmounted /target/boot, then /target and remounted /target using "mount -t btrfs -o compress, ssd /device /mountpoint" and /target/boot using "mount -t ext4 /device /mountpoint". I then restarted the installer and it went on it's way installing, slowly of course because of the btrfs I/O slowdown bug. Afterwards I modified /etc/fstab to mount / using '-o compress, ssd'.
Unless I am completely blind I see no way to choose mount options using the alternative installer.

The btrfs I/O slowdown bug needs to be backported this kernel if btrfs is going to have any use at all, as it takes way too long to update installations.

Did I see it right, that the installer defaults to automatic login for the set user?
Windows XP is back!

It's not a privileged account, so not quite XP. I think automatic login is OK for PCs for home use, because those computers aren't physically secured beyond the security of the house. As soon as someone has access to the keyboard, they have access to the hard drive, too. A password won't do much good in that situation.

I haven't tested the installer; does anybody know what the default is for laptops? For laptops that are used in public places, it would make sense to encrypt the drive, have a password-protected login, and lock the BIOS into only booting from the hard drive.